First Thoughts of Khartoum

I am at the moment in the capital city of the biggest country in Africa geographically, the capital city of the country that has experienced the longest civil war on the African continent, that is known by the darkness of its people's skin and the multitude of its civil wars...

I am in Sudan...

I arrived at 5 am after a 2 hour delay in Cairo...

Streets were barren then but then at 9 am when I went to work they were busier but not that much busier...

I decided to turn down the Hilton reservation that was made for me by the company and I am staying with Waleed, an AIESEC AUC alumnus and an amazing friend...

Funnily his house is in the middle of the UN mission to Sudan compound. The UN bought the land all around the house when he was in Cairo and just surrounded the house...took pictures of it all with the snipers on the top of the UN buildings...pretty cool...

In Egypt, there is a stereotype of the Sudanese being lazy and slow, this was even confirmed by Waleed who is a Sudanese himself. However, my experience at the office here just showed me that people can have stereotype about their own collective groups...The Sudanese at the office are the smartest, most sociable and active employees I have encountered in the company across North Africa...

Everyone said you either love India or hate it ....I loved it...They say you either hate Sudan or hate it even more...amazingly, I love it already not as much as India yet but lets see how the next three days go...